First off, Happy New Year! I’ve returned from the mayhem of Christmas with many a good resolution to post more regularly and am starting off the year with a good healthy lentil salad. Simple and cheap to make and ultimately delicious.

Preheat the oven to 200c. Place the lentils in a pan, squash the cloves of garlic with the back of a knife and crumple the bay leaves. Add to the lentils in the pan with the thyme leaves. Cover with water and bring up to the boil, let simmer away for 30 minutes, until tender.

Remove the core and seeds from the peppers and slice into thin strips, toss with the rest of the ingredients. Roast for about 15-20 minutes until tender.

Once the lentils are cooked, drain off any excess water and remove the bay and thyme. Mix through the peppers, sherry vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and season. Serve immediately.

Variations…. this is particularly delicious with basil stirred through at the end and would be yummy with feta or goats cheese as well. Another super delicious way of cooking the peppers is to chargrill them over the flame on your hob like in this recipe.